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Thank you for all the encouraging words! I'm having a blast writing this story.

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"Son of a bitch!" Jack shouted as he took in the scene before them. Standing no more than ten feet ahead of them was all that was left of the stargate. The loud blasts as they travelled out of the city had been the resistance forces bombing the area. The DHD was completely destroyed and the stargate looked like it was going to fall down at the first gust of wind.

Sam stood next to him, her small hand still in his. Glancing at their cuffs he let out another curse before running his free hand through his hair. "Any danger of the gate exploding?" He asked her.

"I don't know, sir," she replied, but her voice lacked its normal confidence. "Perhaps the bombs they used didn't react enough with the Naquadah. Regardless, we won't be able to use the gate to get home."Her disappointment was evident.

"When Teal'c tries to return in," he checked his watch, "sixteen more hours, they'll realize the gate's been destroyed. They'll dispatch the Prometheus to come pick us up."

"It'll take the Prometheus at least ten days to reach this planet, assuming they don't have to drop out of hyperspace," Sam told him. "I know that might not sound like a lot of time to you, but for me," she let the sentence trail off.

Jack didn't say anything, he couldn't. He'd never known what it was like to be in her position—stripped of her identity, considered a slave, viewed as nothing more than something to be used and discarded. It didn't matter that he felt differently; in the eyes of everyone around them, he owned her. If anything happened to him, she'd be left vulnerable, resold to the highest bidder.

Telling her otherwise didn't make it untrue. That part he did understand. When Ba'al had him, sadistically killing him again and again, Daniel had come as an ascended being to tell him he'd be okay. The sick joke of the universe was that he wasn't okay. He doubted he'd ever be okay again, and that was what he feared the most for Sam. That this experience would create the kind of wounds that never healed.

"Carter, how do women protect themselves, legally, on this planet?" Jack asked, snapping himself out of his thoughts and into problem solving mode.

"They earn a higher caste, I guess, sir," she said with a dainty shrug. With her typical fatigues on, it was sometimes hard to see her feminine side, but in her current outfit—it keep slapping him in the face.

"How?"

"Women can be born into a higher caste or—"

"Or?" Jack prompted, but he already knew the dreaded answer.

"Or marry into it…sir," she said. "During my short time locked up, I only saw two higher caste women who came to look at potential slaves. Neither of them wore a slave cuff," she said softly.

"Only Zabar or his priests can remove the cuff because it's only removed at a husband's request," Jack realized as he sat down on the ground, pulling Carter with him. "Damn, Daniel was right," he turned to look at her. "We have to get married."

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Pulling her knees to her chest, Sam let go of Jack's hand and wrapped her arms around her legs. Resting her forehead onto the tops of her knees, she let out a heavy sigh. This mission was going down as one of the worst, and that was with assuming they'd survive.

"Carter," Jack leaned over, nudging her with his shoulder. "It's not the worst idea in the world, is it?"

Sam took a deep breath and forced herself to recall everything Daniel had told her about the Creetion society. The secular leader, Omar, had promised that no harm would come to any Tau'ri women venturing through the stargate, which was the only reason General Hammond had agreed to let her come and run the tests. Once the agreement was signed, Sam didn't think she'd need any of the information in Daniel's reports because she wasn't even supposed to interact with the people. Now she'd give anything to have one of his reports in front of her.

Unfortunately, she knew Daniel well enough to know that he would have only suggested her and the Colonel get married if there was no other viable option. This damn planet had once again stripped her of any semblance of control. Whether she wanted to or not, it looked like she had to get married.

"It's not that," she raised her head to look at him. She knew she shouldn't be blaming him; actually she should be happy he was willing to do something so drastic to save her. She wasn't sure he'd do the same for Daniel or Teal'c. That image forced her to allow a little chuckle to escape.

"Want to clue me in on the joke?" He asked softly.

"Just picturing you asking Daniel or Teal'c to marry you," she told him honestly; drawing a loud half-laugh, half-cough from him.

"That's not quite what I expected you to say," he told her, but his eyes twinkled with humor.

"What'd you expect?"

"I don't know, maybe you imagining giving me a honey-do list? Ordering me around the base?" He shrugged, saying it more as a question than as a statement.

His words caused the momentary lightness to instantly evaporate. She'd be lying to herself if she claimed to never think about getting married. She had imagined waking up next to a husband, having children, doing all the things married couples do. But she'd never allowed herself to imagine doing them with Jack. Imagining a life with him hurt too much because it could never actually happen.

"What's going on in that head of yours?" he asked her. Sam wanted to lie and tell him everything was fine, but he had a knack for reading her like a book.

"Sir, if we just keep our heads down, the Prometheus will get here and I'm sure the Asgard technology on the ship can remove this cuff," she tried to sound confident, but knew she was failing.

"What happens to you if you still have the cuff on and I get taken out of the picture?" He spoke the words she didn't want to think about. Losing him was not an option. Ever.

"I'm willing to take that risk," she said firmly, hoping he couldn't see her fear.

"Well, I'm not, Carter," he said firmly. "We're getting married and that's an order."

As soon as the words left his mouth, he looked appalled at what he'd said. "Carter, I'm sorry," he reached for her, but pulled back his hand before touching her. Looking at his feet he asked, "Is the idea of marrying me really so unpleasant?"

"No!" She responded instantly at the look in his eyes. "It's just the opposite, sir." Sam took a deep breath and tried to put into words how she felt. After all they'd been through, the least she could give him was the truth. "It's the idea of being married to you here, then returning home and going back to not being married that I'm having trouble with."

"Oh," he said, then a stronger, "Oh!," as he realized what she was saying.

"I know we'd just be married here in name only," she rushed to explain further. "But the idea of what it represents, well, that's knocking pretty loudly on the door to that room we left everything in."

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Jack stared in surprise at his second-in-command, or rather his apparent future wife—at least on this planet. He couldn't help liking the sound of calling Carter his wife. Everything they'd left in the room she was referring to was starting to escape, and he didn't think he had the willpower to stop it.

"Carter, I—" He knew he was standing at a figurative fork in the road, but what he said next would have literal consequences. Jack opted for a version of the truth. "I know what you mean."

Sam's eyes widened slightly as she took in his words, but she remained silent.

"Unfortunately," he sighed, "we don't have a choice. What do you say we just get through the next ten days or so and we'll deal with our stuff in that room once we're safely aboard the Prometheus."

Sam stared at him for a long time; her gaze hard enough to make Jack squirm. "Okay," she said simply, climbing to her feet. "Let's get the hell out of here and find ourselves a priest."

Taking the arm she offered him, he hauled himself to his feet and brushed the dirt from his fatigues. Looking around them, he took stock of the city to their south, the mountains to the east, and the forests to their north. Empty land lay to the west. The city lay burning behind them, so that wasn't a good option, and the mountains were too dangerous without proper gear—which they did not have.

"People would likely flee into the forrest," Sam said, her thoughts apparently in the same place as his.

"I agree," he held out his hand and waited for her to take it. Once she did, he laced their fingers together. Jack told himself he did it because it was less likely for them to be pulled apart this way, but the truth was he just wanted too. It was a small intimacy he allowed himself. "The first thing we need to do is get you out of those clothes," he told her with a grin.

"Sir?" Her body stiffened at his unusual sexual innuendo.

"Well, yeah, Carter, you're pretty distracting and we need to blend in, don't you think," he gave her a wink. "What did you think I meant?"

Glaring at him, she gave his arm a hard tug as she started walking toward the forrest. "Payback's a bitch, Colonel."